Heat-resistant wall



July ,8, 1969 J. R. SALTON HEAT-RESISTANT WALL Sheet Filed Jan. 5, 1968 m ms fin M m E O T |R A W 2 G F 2 United States Patent 3,453,793 HEAT-RESISTANT WALL Jerome R. Salton, Elkins Park, Pa., assignor to Alliancewall Corporation, Alliance, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Jan. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 696,026 Int. Cl. E04b 2/58 US. Cl. 52--461 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A heat-resistant wall, or panel, for preventing the spread of fire, and comprising a refractory core enclosed between two steel sheets and provided with an interior buckle-resisting reinforcement.

Background To be eligible for insurance at regular rates, a fire wall must be heat-resistant in the sense that it must prevent the passage therethrough, even when the inner side thereof is exposed to a fire having a temperature of a predetermined order for a period of not less than 90 minutes. This test is conducted by the Underwriters Laboratories and is known as the 1 /2 hour test. Also, the outer side of the wall which is not exposed to the fire is not yet hot enough to start a fire.

The invention A decorative, one-piece, or a sectional, wall which can be tailored to close a particular opening and which passes the 1 /2 Hour Test.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the outer, or atmosphere-exposed side of a wall, or panel, embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the inner, or flameexposed side of the same.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, horizontal sectional view looking in the direction of line 3-3 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view looking in the direction of line 44 on FIG. 3.

In the drawings, and 12 designate two building walls which could be the vertical sides of an opening, or could be top and bottom sills of such opening, depending on the particular orientation. It is sufiicient that the opening be closed by a panel P of this invention.

The panel, which was used in test described below, has an outer, atmosphere-exposed face 14 and an inner fireexposed face 16, and it is mounted with its opposite ends between opposite pairs of angles 18 and 20- which are secured to walls 10 and 12 as at 22.

The panel is composed of a central core 24 and an outer steel plate 26, which was not exposed to the fire, and an inner steel plate 28 which, in the test referred to, was exposed to fire. The core 24 is made of asbestos or other high heat resisting refractory material, such as foamed, or non-foamed natural or synthetic ceramics, and is of the desired thickness. For small openings and for openings of an accurately known size, a one-piece panel is feasible. For other installations, the panel can be cut in sections of the same or of different sizes, so as to make various combinations to fit a particular opening. As an illustration, the panel may be formed of three or four sections which are joined together with battens 32 and 34 which are secured in position by screws 36, or the like. The junctions of the panel sections are caulked with refractory material as at 37. Internally, the panel is provided with a spline 38 which intersects the caulking and overlaps the junctions of the panel sections to prevent the passage of fire should the caulking material fail. The splines also reinforce the refractory core. The sides 26 and 28 of the panel and the spline 38, are made a bit shorter than the opening to be closed so as to provide for expansion. The fit of the ends of the panel between the pairs of angles 18 and 20 is snug enough to prevent the passage of fire or of substantial drafts, but not tight enough to prevent relative movement due to expansion and contraction.

Outer plate 26 is coated with a heat-resistant and decorative material, such as porcelain, or other ceramic material 40.

In order to cover the junctions of adjacent panels or of panel sections, I provide the battens 34 on outer wall 26 with spring clips 42 which are detachably engageable with arms 44, which are carried by channels 46, which overlap said junctions. Channels 46 can be decorative as well as utilitarian.

A panel 48 x 36 x 2 constructed as herein disclosed, was tested by the Underwriters Laboratories under the following conditions and with the following results:

Steel sheets 26 and 28 were of 24-gauge, and the outer, atmosphere-exposed sheet 26 was coated with porcelain. The caulking was a standard mineral-asbestos mix and the splines were of lit-gauge.

The inner side 14 of the panel was exposed, for over minutes to a gas flame which generates a temperature of about 1825 F. which was measured. by nine suitably distributed thermocouples. In tests of this kind, limiting end point temperatures are reached when the transmission of heat through the panel is enough to raise the temperature to 250 F. above the ambient temperature, or when the temperature of any point rises 30% of the allowable 250 F. rise. In the test to which this panel was subjected, the ambient temperature was 83 F. and therefore, the average limiting temperature would be 333 F. and the individual point limiting temperature would be 408" F. Analysis of the unexposed side of the present panel showed an average temperature of 297 F. and a maximum temperature of 355 F. or well below the corresponding allowable limits. Also, the endurance limit was 98 minutes or in excess of the required 90 minutes.

Immediately after the fire, the exposed side was subjected to a 30 psi. stream of water from a 1 /8 hose at 20 ft. without any penetration.

In the claim, exposed refers to the inner, or fireexposed side 16 and unexposed refers to the outer, atmosphere-exposed side 14 of the panel.

What I claim is:

1. A fire resistant panel including a refractory core having grooves therein,

splines in said grooves,

a sheet metal cover for the exposed side of said core,

sheet metal cover for the unexposed side of said core,

said panel being formed of a plurality of sections with their edges abutting,

a refractory caulking material sealing the junctions of said sections,

battens overlapping said junctions and secured to adjacent sections,

channels overlapping the junctions of said sections at their unexposed sides, and

means detachably securing said channels to said battens, and wherein said splines intersect said caulking material and overlap said junctions.

759,430 10/ 1956 Great Britain. R f C1 d 882,745 11/1961 Great Britain.

6 6 79,864 5/1952 Norway. UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 445,790 10/1967 Switzerland.

3 61- 3 Z133 g HENRY c. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner. 8/1916 Meier. US. 01. X.R. .12/1940 Bigelow. 52-483, 586

10/1965 Whitesides. 0

FOREIGN PATENTS 

